The Bleak Lake Affair

Dr. Achilles Shaw stayed late, as he often did, at Degoya County Hospital the night he turned into a portal. As a pioneer in the field of temporal anesthesiology, he had been noting with interest the unusually connected dreams of many of his patients, who reported spending days, maybe weeks wandering through a staticky, empty version of their hometown before jolting back awake and gasping. He had been sure to take all the necessary precautions to inoculate himself against the memetic properties of the dream – but alas, we all make mistakes.

A Public Access mystery, for the Degoya County jam, April 2024.

Stranger beasts are hunting tonight. Pray the dawn brings familiar shadows.